Home
by Mackiesgirl
Summary: Angela has come home with a broken heart just in time for her tenth high school reunion. Will being surrounded by her friends and family help? Please Read and Review. And go easy on me, it's been over four years since my last fan fiction!


Home. It's only a small word made up of four letters but for most people it evokes powerful emotion. Look at all the books and poems and songs and movies devoted to that one simple word. And whether the story they are telling is sad or funny or sentimental it is somehow defining. The where and the why and the who explains you in a way that mere words never can. I guess that is why when people are at a crossroads in their lives they come back to their beginnings because after all, 'home is where the heart is.'

Sighing Angela Chase looked up from her laptop. Never before had an assignment paralleled her own life so perfectly and that was depressing. As a freelance journalist she often found herself writing about a variety of things, most often things she had no knowledge of or to be totally honest even the slightest interest in. Take last month's article on the growing pattern of the African violet for a small gardening magazine whose main reader demographic were little old ladies in the Midwest. It was possible that these ladies found fascinating the fact that Myrtle Kelly of Hill Town, Indiana had received an African violet from her husband on their first wedding anniversary in 1947. The Violet still survived in a place of honour in Myrtle's living room while her husband Frank had died of a heart attack in 1973.

Standing up from her desk Angela surveyed her surroundings. Nothing much had changed since she had last been home two summers before. Her mother's sewing machine and several bolts of cloth were stacked neatly in the corner which Angela knew would have been removed before her arrival if she had let her mother know she was coming home. If only she had known…

Circling her childhood room, picking up a knick knack here, examining a framed photo there Angela came to the realization that it wasn't that things hadn't changed in the last two years, they hadn't changed since she was a teenager. Her room had somehow become a museum of her formative years. She wondered idly if this was intentional on her mother's part or if the room had no other purpose other then occasional sewing room. Wandering over to the window that looked down on the street below Angela was unaware of her mother standing in her doorway.

Watching her oldest daughter back in her familiar surroundings gave Patty Chase a surge of contentment. She hadn't had to ask any questions when Angela showed up unexpectedly the evening before, it would only be another version of the same story. She wondered if it was selfish of her to be happy when her daughter was so obviously not. Christmas was coming and for the first time in five years Patty would have both her girls home.

Clearing her throat to make her presence known Patty tried to work her face into a cheerful expression that could not be interpreted as smug as she crossed the room to her daughter. "I thought I heard you wandering around up here," she said handing Angela a cup of coffee. "I was expecting you to sleep most of the day."

Taking a deep drink of her coffee Angela shook her head, "jet lag is a funny thing. It'll probably catch up with me in a day or two. I've been working on this article for the alumni magazine for the University of Alaska. It's due in a couple of days.

"The neighbourhood has really changed," she said motioning out the window to the Krakow's house where a young couple stood in their driveway saying goodbye to one another before they left in their respective vehicles for work.

"I know," agreed Patty. "It's funny since the Bob and Helen moved no one has tried to analyze me while I'm trying to unload groceries from the trunk of the car. As annoying as that was I miss them.

"Anyway, I need to get to work. Call your dad at the restaurant; obviously he knows you are home. And I called Sharon to let her know that you're home. She asked me to let you know she expects you at her house for dinner tonight. She did mention the reunion several times."

"Mom," Angela groaned plopping down on her bed.

"I am only passing on the message," Patty said holding her hands up. "I will say though that Sharon has put a lot of work into organizing your tenth high school reunion. I told her I didn't know what your plans are…"

"I don't know what my plans are," Angela admitted. "I thought I wouldn't make any plans until after Christmas, so I guess I'll be here for the reunion." Knowing she had just made her mother wildly happy she got up from her bed to wrap her arms around her in a hug. "Thanks, mom," she whispered "for not asking any questions and not saying 'I told you so.'"

"You'll tell me when you're ready," Patty said running her hands through her daughter's hair before pulling away. "I'm glad you're home."

Alone now in her room Angela returned to her laptop but found her concentration was shot. Instead she wrote a quick email to Sharon letting her know that she would be there for dinner. She gave no details, because like her mother she knew Sharon would know exactly what had happened. Unlike Patty Sharon would hold no punches and make Angela spill all the gory details.

Sighing again Angela reached for her phone trying to put a smile she didn't feel into her voice. "Hi Dad, it's me."

"He was way too gorgeous, that was what the problem was. Guys like that can never commit because they know that they can have whatever they want no matter what. There are no consequences." Standing in her kitchen chopping spinach for a salad Sharon suddenly slammed down her knife and demanded "what kind of name is Blain anyway?"

"A gorgeous name for a gorgeous man," Ricky piped up from his perch on Sharon's counter. "You do have great taste in the looks department," he added raising his wine glass to Angela. "It's just too bad that they all suck in the personality department."

"You seemed to like him when you came to visit last summer," Angela shot back. "Not once did you take me aside and say 'he's bad news.'"

"I was dazzled," Ricky defended himself against the glares he was receiving from both Sharon and Angela. "And he was a nice enough guy but Sharon is right with her gorgeous guy theory. Guys like that cheat."

"I don't know why I am always so surprised. It's always the same. No matter how old I get, no matter how much more experience I have it's like I am right back in the basement of Liberty High begging some guy to love me."

Sharon and Ricky exchanged looks. Neither one of them were going to touch that one with a ten foot pole. "They actually have a lock on that door now. Well a code thing that only the janitorial staff has," Ricky said changing the subject quickly. "The closet in the drama room is the new make out place."

"Not to mention under the bleachers, behind the curtains in the auditorium and the second floor boys room." Sharon added.

"The Second floor boy's room!" Ricky exclaimed. "Now, that's a new one. Where did you hear that?"

"Well, Selena Wallace had an appointment with me yesterday to discuss college applications and the next thing I know she has burst into tears because Jeremy Romero has been cheating on her with Melissa Bijou in the second floor boy's room. Apparently they were caught in the act by David Deacon who is Selena's brother's best friend."

"No!" Ricky practically shouted. "Melissa is so quiet!"

"It's the quiet one's you have to watch out for," Sharon said with a shrug resuming her chopping.

Angela had watched this exchange with a mix of amusement and horror. Somewhere along the line her two best friends had become grownups. Grownup teachers. They were almost like a foreign species. "Is it weird being back there?" She asked of their old high school where both Ricky and Sharon now taught.

"For awhile it was. I kind of thought I would stick it out for a year or so until something else came along. But I love it! And it's nice to work with Richard," Ricky said referring to Mr. Kaminski who still taught English as Liberty High and was Ricky's surrogate father. "And it was great when Sharon decided to move back and take the guidance councilor position."

"Plus I teach health," Sharon added.

"Sex Ed," Ricky corrected. "Call it whatever you want, you teach Sex Ed. And she's very dedicated." Angela burst out laughing as Ricky leaned over to give Sharon's bulging belly a pat.

"Okay so basically it is sex ed. And although I am a great teacher I do not need props." She smiled as she too gave her bump a pat. "Two years of marriage was enough alone time, we decided it was time to add on. Plus how else was I going to get Carmen Sandiego here to come home."

She glanced up at the clock which read two minutes to six. "Okay, I was supposed to wait until we were both together but he's almost late and I can't wait another second. We want you two to be the baby's godparents."

Neither one of them had a chance to respond as they heard the garage door open and Sharon put her finger up to her lips. "Okay, I didn't say a thing. Act surprised." Ricky and Angela exchanged amused looks as Sharon opened the kitchen to welcome her husband home.

If Angela thought it was strange listening to Sharon and Ricky discuss their career's it was much more so seeing Sharon in her new role as wife and mother to be. Maybe it was because Angela had not been a constant fixture in Sharon's life since graduating high school. Sharon and Ricky had both gone to Penn State while Angela in a very dramatic decision attended the University of Alaska. And then when Sharon had accepted her first teaching job in New York Angela was interning at a magazine in London and when Sharon fell in love Angela was writing at a small newspaper in Florida and when Sharon moved back to Pittsburgh and got married Angela had just moved to a larger paper in Hawaii. And now, while Sharon had been settling into married life Angela had followed a gorgeous Australian surfer named Blain to Australia where she wrote articles on any subject her agent threw at her while she managed Blains business which was teaching tourists how to surf and much more as it turned out, if they happened to be female and attractive.

Shaking her head Angela dragged herself back to the present. She was not going to let another one of her stupid mistakes ruin what should be a happy night with old friends. So pasting a smile on her face she turned to greet Sharon's husband and her own childhood friend. "Brian," She said holding her arms out to receive a hug. "It's good to see you."

Brian Krakow had outgrown most of the awkwardness of his adolescence and had actually turned into an attractive man but it still seemed bizarre that he and Sharon had ended up together. Yet they seemed to work and you would have to be blind not to see how in love they were.

Angela watched the two of them interact together as they all sat down for dinner and when Brian reached out to help Sharon lower her increasing bulk into her chair she actually felt a little stab of jealousy. Maybe if she hadn't been so self-absorbed when she was younger this could be her life now. Brian Krakow had at one time been in love with her after all. But even before she had completely finished that thought she knew it was wrong. Brian and Sharon had been lucky enough to find in each other what Angela had yet to come even close to discovering in another person. It was love she was jealous of not Brian and Sharon.

Even though Brian's appearance had matured and Sharon's influence had softened him he was still Brian. "So, Chase, what are you going to do now that you're home?"

"Oh," Angela stuttered staring at the green bean she had just speared with her fork. "Well, I'm not sure exactly. I mean, I'm doing some writing, freelance stuff. I'm actually just finishing an article on coming home for the University of Alaska's alumni magazine; they like to throw work to actual alumni. Oddly I don't have to do a whole lot of research on this article. And my agent, Beth has a couple more assignments to toss my way."

"Are you going to look for a real job though?" Brian didn't look up from the roll he was buttering or he would have caught his wife's reproving expression.

"I don't really know what I am doing next. I told my mom I would stick around until after Christmas…"

Sharon cut her off by clapping her hands and squealing. "You'll be here for the reunion then. And if you're staying that long you can wait until the end of January for the baby to be born."

It was hard to resist Sharon when she was so excited. She saw Ricky and Brian exchange a grin and knew she was hooped. Now that she was back and technically unemployed with a lot of spare time on her hands it got the two of them off the hook for all manors of reunion business. "I guess I can do that," she agreed finally. She really didn't have a plan B at the moment. "And I would like to be here when the baby comes. Do you guys know the sex?"

"We want to be surprised," Sharon said smiling at Brian. "And we can't agree on a name either."

"I was going to suggest Blain," Ricky smirked.

"Like I said, what kind of name is Blain?" Sharon asked rolling her eyes. "Oh, you know who just had a baby? Kyle and Delia!" She answered before Angela could respond.

"You're ex boyfriend Kyle and Delia Fisher?" Angela asked realizing that Sharon and Brian might not be the oddest couple of their gradating class. "How did that happen?

"They met at our wedding. They just kind of sparked. They were married six months later and they had a little girl in September they named Daisy."

"Okay, I have to ask," Angela said choking back a giggle. "Doesn't that make for an awkward dinner party? I mean, Sharon you and Kyle were on and off all through high school and Brian you and Delia finally hooked up senior year after she finally stopped telling everyone what a tool you were."

"Oh my God," Ricky exclaimed helping Brian collect their dinner plates while Sharon went to the kitchen to get dessert. "I never thought of that!"

"No, it's not awkward at all," Sharon said coming back in with an apple pie. "We're grown ups. Yes we have a history but we can also be friends. It's all the past. I've actually been in contact with a lot of people because I'm organizing the reunion and now that we are living back here we run into people that we went to school with all the time."

"Yeah," Brian added. "I just wrote up Jordan Catalano's will for him last week."

At that very moment you could have heard a pin drop the room was so silent. Brian seemed to be the only one unaware of it. Until he looked up into the furious face of his wife.

"What?" He demanded around a mouthful of pie. "Come on, that was like ten years ago. People do get over their first love. No offense," he said looking sideways at Angela.

"No, it's okay," Angela said quickly trying to keep her expression as calm as possible. "It was a long time ago. I just didn't know that he was back here."

"Only since this summer," Ricky said sheepishly. "He bought 'Let's Bolt' and is in the middle of renovating it right now."

"I didn't mention it because, well I didn't think it was important," Sharon added quickly.

Forcing herself to take an interest in her pie Angela picked up her fork. "It doesn't matter guys, really. Like Brian said, it was years ago." And even the mention of his name still managed to make her heart ache. "Pittsburgh's a huge city, what are the chances I will ever run into him?"


End file.
